Our Crew

After graduating with a degree in International Business, John spent eight years learning Spanish and pursuing social-focused businesses in areas dealing with systemic poverty. That journey led him to studying permaculture at the Bullock’s Homestead on Orcas Island with his wife in 2011. In the summer of 2012 John completed an intensive course in edible forest gardening with Dave Jacke.

To continue his education in natural systems and wildlife processes, John moved to Vashon Island, where he puts a practical application to his studies in edible forest gardening, mushroom cultivation and integrated holistic landscape design. John’s main concern is designing and building gardens that people can use for food, pleasure and medicine. John enjoys soccer and bicycling. He and his wife have two young daughters, who specialize in eating berries and digging holes in the garden.

Aaron is interested in helping to create a harmonious relationship between people and the environment and sees permaculture and sustainable practices as an important part in realizing this goal.

He has been involved in permaculture landscaping and ecological restoration for numerous years in many different locales including the Pacific Northwest, the Desert Southwest, mountainous and tropical regions.

Aaron’s passions include being in nature, hiking, vegetable gardening, and reading.

In addition to taking a permaculture design course and one year internship with the Bullock Brothers on Orcas Island, Aaron has also taken courses and applied what he has learned on rainwater harvesting, the soil food web, biodynamic farming, and quantum agriculture.

Julia Trippel

Julia’s first gardening experience was removing asphalt in her family’s backyard with other 10 year olds using croquet mallets found left out for trash on the street. She loved planting beans, carrots and tomatoes and watching them grow! Her first landscaping job was on the grounds crew of the Scott Arboretum on the campus of Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. After studying tropical ecology in Costa Rica, she wrote her undergraduate thesis on the ways in which indigenous methods of organic agriculture are more efficient than petroleum-based, colonizing/settler methods. With an MBA in sustainable business from Pinchot/Presidio, Julia is thrilled to bring all these passions together for HGO!

Otong Durahim

Otong (Oi) hails from West Java, Indonesia. A graduate of Indonesia College of Art in Bandung, he spent over 10 years as a professional set designer and builder. After moving to the states in 2007, his landscape design and building skills were inspired by the permaculture vision at the Heartwood Institute in Northern California. Since 2008, he has been creating functional beautiful structures independently in the Seattle area. He now lives with his family on Vashon Island.

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COMMUNITY PARTNERS

We dedicate our free time working with community organizations and non-profits, such as: